How to relax

How to relax properly

The answer to how to relax is the basis for a boisterous psyche and physique, because any physical relaxation increasingly calms your soul. You can sleep better, be more exuberant in everyday life and enjoy things more easily. Relaxation is not only beneficial mentally, it is an interaction between body and mind, because relaxation encourages your body to perform at its best. Whether you need to exert yourself physically, concentrate extraordinarily, or work effectively, a relaxed body will accommodate you here. If you are unrelaxed, your body will feel it too and react immediately!

Stress is your biggest enemy

Probably the biggest enemy of our relaxation is stress, whether it is work stress, relationship stress, or leisure stress, we are familiar with this feeling. Stress is omnipresent and prevents us from relaxing, enjoying and staying healthy. You may think that stress is normal and that it won’t make me sick, but you’re wrong. Not only muscle tension, sleep disorders or depression are a consequence of permanent stress, but also an increased risk of stroke. Studies show that those who work more than 55 hours a week have a 33% higher risk of stroke. Frightening results, which are underestimated by us again and again.

What happens in our body?

Peak performance under stress

Stress is a natural reaction of our body to dicey situations. In the times of our ancestors, this stress reaction was essential for survival, as in hunting or fighting for survival. The reason for this is the high performance our body can deliver in stressful situations. Sounds attractive at first, because who would not like to achieve high performance. Whether at work, at university or in everyday life, we always want to be the best and preferably in the shortest possible time. Whether due to the boss, lecturer, partner, parent, ourselves or other external influences, we always put ourselves under pressure and create the stress ourselves. At the same time, we don’t even know what exactly is happening in our bodies and why we are able to perform as well as we do, because as tempting as it may sound, stress is always counterproductive.

Play of hormones

In stressful situations, our bodies release stress hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and dopamine. It is like a cocktail of hormones that overwhelms and overwhelms our body with quite a few contents. Our body goes crazy, the overload spreads, several organs are affected and thus rob our body of an enormous amount of energy. This hormone combination makes our body produce more energy. Energy in the form of sugar and fats, which result in ravenous appetite attacks. So be careful – stress is not only unhealthy, it also makes you fat! But that’s not all, because in stressful situations our breathing becomes faster and more hectic. As a result, our blood is enriched with more oxygen and our muscles tense up. This is certainly familiar to some of you, because who doesn’t know it when you fall into bed totally tense after a stressful day. Besides the muscles, our sleep, our psyche, our circulation and also our brain suffers from stress. The list is long and could be even longer, which is why you should not take stress lightly, but recognize the seriousness of the situation. As soon as you notice signs of stress, you should really relax as a compensation.

Our tips on how to relax the right way

Stress is omnipresent and meanwhile our everyday life is also characterized by stress and discomfort. Stress is unfortunately not avoidable, but we can reduce it as far as possible. In addition, we can protect our body from the consequences and calm it down after dicey situations. To help you do that, we’ve put together some of the best tips to show you how to relax properly!

Tip 1: Find and combat stress factors!

The first step in fighting stress and learn how to relax is to find the causes of stress. Because before you can fight stress, you need to become aware of your situation. Do some self-reflection: Am I really stressed, or is there another reason for my discomfort? When am I stressed – do I feel the stress regularly? Is it me, or is it my environment? How does my body react to the stress? All these questions will help you to listen to yourself and to see through your situation. Not every stress has the same causes and not every person has the same stress factors. Only when you have found your stress factors, you can fight them and reduce them!

Tip 2: Listen to your body!

Your body is your home. It looks after you, transports you and takes care of you every day. It notices every change and reacts immediately. It tries to take care of itself and warn you, no matter what the situation. It’s the same with stress, your body immediately sounds the alarm, even if we often don’t notice it or don’t want to admit it. If our finger bleeds, we react immediately and try to help, and this is exactly how it should be with stress. Do not try to ignore or suppress your body’s signals. You have to notice them and actively do something about them before the big cry for help comes. Don’t be too proud of yourself and don’t see it as a weakness, because everyone experiences stressful situations from time to time. Everyone gets overwhelmed, everyone gets overworked, and everyone needs a break – it’s perfectly normal and human!

Tip 3: You can say “NO”!

You don’t have to take over all tasks, you don’t have to be there everywhere, you don’t have to say “yes” to everything and above all you do NOT have to be able to do everything! You are only a human being. A human being who makes mistakes, who needs breaks and who should also think about himself. Learn to say “NO” when it becomes too much for you and when you notice how your body rebels.

Tip 4: Laugh!

Probably the easiest step is “laughing”! Yes, that’s right, it’s that easy. Just lifting the corners of your mouth is enough, because as soon as you smile, your body starts releasing happy hormones. By releasing the happy hormones, your body relieves stress and gives your body a new boost of energy. Even if situations seem critical and you don’t feel like laughing, try anyway. Because if you’re happy, you’re more relaxed, which lays the foundation for a healthy psyche. A great way of learning how to relax.

Tip 5: Get enough exercise!

Exercise is a very efficient way to reduce stress. Don’t worry – we don’t mean an ultimate workout, but very simple exercise. The main thing is to get your body going a bit, to challenge it and lure it out of its comfort zone. With the help of sports activities you actively reduce stress hormones in your body, you can better switch off, you get your head a bit clear and can really relax at the end of the day. Even a short walk is super effective and can be perfectly integrated into everyday life. Whether in the lunch break, on the way home, or before sleeping for a walk is always time. It’s best to completely switch off and focus solely on walking. Spend 15-30 minutes just with yourself, listen to your inner self and try to forget everything else. The combination of nature, fresh air and pure thoughts will really relax you – you can be sure of that! My personal secret tip is to go for a walk before sleeping. For one thing, it’s beautifully quiet outside, there are fewer distractions and you’ll be able to sleep deeply & soundly!

Tip 6: Power nap!

Your day was already exhausting and it’s about to get even more exhausting? Then a power nap is just what you need. What is that supposed to be? A power nap is nothing more than a short nap in which your body does NOT enter the deep sleep phase. Sleep is the natural precaution against overexertion and should actually relax us. For this, however, your sleep needs the optimal length. If you sleep too long you feel tired and limp, if you sleep too short you still feel tired and your sleep was counterproductive. Plus, there’s just no time for a long nap during the day, and that’s when the power nap comes into play. It’s like recharging your battery – you lie down for 20-30 minutes and before you get into deep sleep, you wake up. To wake up, you can either set a classic alarm clock, or use a more radical method ( success guaranteed!). To do this, simply take a bunch of keys in your hand, close your eyes and relax. When you are about to fall asleep, your muscles will relax. Result: the bunch of keys will fall to the floor and you will definitely wake up. Sounds strange and unusual, but the success is guaranteed – you will feel fitter afterwards and can continue the day full of energy!

Tip 7: Breathe properly!

As banal as it may sound, proper breathing is enormously important, especially if you want to relax properly. Short breathing exercises can be done anywhere and are always good tools for acute stress or nervousness. Regardless of where you are, breathing exercises work at work, on the train, in a traffic jam or in your bed. You create inner peace in your body and help it to switch off so that it can relax. In stressful situations we tend to gasp for breath, which means that our body does not receive enough oxygen. To counteract this, you should first pay close attention to your breathing – concentrate on inhaling and exhaling and try to breathe consciously. Optionally, you can also hold your breath, because this is another way to relax and reduce stress.

Tip 8: Massage

Muscle tension is an unpleasant consequence of stress and certainly plagues many of you. Shoulders and neck are particularly often affected, as the working day takes place at a desk and the body is not offered any movement. Sitting for hours on end, coupled with a lot of pressure to perform, causes our muscles to tense up. A massage would be the perfect compensation, wouldn’t it? Of course, it’s ideal if you have a partner at home who can give you a wonderful massage. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be your partner, other family members or friends can also do you good with a little massage, because even the mere touch of other people has a totally relaxing and beneficial effect on our body. Don’t worry, if there is no one to massage you, it’s not a problem, because there are several ways to do something good for yourself. For example, you can massage yourself by sitting upright, dangling your head and starting to lightly knead your shoulders (be careful not to cross your arms). Alternatively, you can use a massage ball or treat yourself to the luxury of a massage chair.